“The people of this society that believe I’m trash and scum, I’ll be trash, and I’ll be scum. But I’ll be ANGELIC trash and scum.”

“I’ll fuck you ‘til you love me, faggot!”

“I normally don’t do interview with women unless I fornicate with them. So you shouldn’t talk anymore…Unless you want to, you know.”

“He called me a ‘rapist’ and a ‘recluse.’ I’m not a recluse.”

“When I was forcibly accused of raping that WRETCHED SWINE OF A WOMAN, Desiree Washington, it was the most horrible time of my life.”

“To say that I was conducting myself as a little brat that time and being promiscuous with the women, I have done no such thing as took that woman’s chastity at all.”

“I have to be honest, I’m a jerk sometime. And I say things that sometimes crass and coarse, but I would never do anything to that extent. And whatever I did I may have took advantage of women before, but I never took advantage of her.”

“No, I didn’t rape that slimy bitch. Because she’s really a bad person . I just hate her guts. She put me in that state where, I don’t know, I really wish I did now. Now I really do want to rape her and her fucking mama.”

“I probably have a 20,000-word vocabulary. I’ll match my wits with anyone on literature, science and the arts.”

“I was gonna rip his heart out, I’m the best ever. I’m the most brutal and vicious, the most ruthless champion there’s ever been. There’s no one can stop me. Lennox is a conquerer? No, I’m Alexander, he’s no Alexander. I’m the best ever! There is no one who can match me. My style is impetuous, my defense is impregnable, and I’m just ferocious. I want his heart! I want to eat his children! Praise be to Allah!”

“These books ain’t window dressing. I think Machiavelli’s the most sophisticated writer outside of Shakespeare. Way ahead of his time. Such a manipulative person. Everything he accomplished he did by kissin’ ass.”

“I like the hip writers: Fitzgerald, the guy who committed suicide, Hemingway, all those guys. Some of them were alcoholics and drug addicts but they had fun. They were real people. They formed the culture of American literature. Hemingway admired Tolstoy, Tolstoy admired Pushkin, and Mailer admired Hemingway. It all flows down. The greats are all connected. One day I’m gonna write a book myself. The first chapter will be about what a rough deal my momma got. She believed in you guys and your society.”

Tyson said it was a ‘miracle’ that he was still alive. “I’ve lived a wild and a strange life,” he said. “I’ve used drugs, I’ve had physical altercations with dangerous people… I’ve slept with guys’ wives and they wanted to kill me. I’m just happy to be here. It’s just a miracle.”

“I can sell out Madison Square Garden masturbating.”

“It’s interesting that you put me in the league with those illustrious fighters [Muhammad Ali, Joe Louis, Jack Johnson], but I’ve proved since my career I’ve surpassed them as far my popularity. I’m the biggest fighter in the history of the sport. If you don’t believe it, check the cash register.”

“Your grandkids and kids after that are going to know about me. I’m going to make sure of that. They’re never going to forget about me. Your great grandkids are going to say, ‘Wow, wasn’t that a bizarre individual.’”

“Y’all guys can’t define me or define my work as a father, I’m many things, I’m many things you know, yeah, I’m a convicted rapist, I’m a hell raiser, I’m a father, I’m a loving father, I’m, you know, a semi-good husband, you know what I mean? What? You know I’m just a man out here trying to enjoy my, you know I was born poor I ain’t never had nothing I don’t know how to act but the real thing is I’m just here to be me. I don’t care about who anyone things at this stage in my life but yeah, I’m pretty much a tyrant titan. Yeah, That’s who I am.”

“I’m not eloquent or distinguished. You guys won’t allow me to ever be that, so just bring it on.”

“You guys have written so much bad stuff about me I can’t remember the last time I fucked a decent woman. I have to go with strippers and ‘ho’s’ and bitches because you put that image on me.”

“I like a strong woman with confidence—massive confidence—and then I want to dominate her sexually.”

“And I went to a strip club because I gave a dancer a lap dance. That’s just what I like to do. I do what I want to do.”